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George ready to take the next step

Sun, 15 Dec 2013 13:34

Saracens Director of Rugby Mark McCall believes hooker Jamie George is closing in on an England Saxons call-up after another eye-catching performance on Saturday.

The 23-year-old free-scoring front row forward crossed for his fifth try of the season in the 64-3 thumping of Zebre at Allianz Park.

“I think that he’s knocking on the door of the Saxons squad by now,” said McCall.

“He’s that kind of quality now, and I’m sure Stuart [Lancaster] would have noticed his form.

“I wouldn’t say Jamie is a prospect - he’s a proper player nowadays and plays just as much as Schalk Brits does. He served his three or four year apprenticeship which was the right period of time for him and he was magnificent today.

“I thought he scrummed well; he threw well and was good around the park - he had a great game.”

George admits the prospect of joining up with the Saxons is an idea that he has entertained.

“I’d be lying I said that it isn’t something that I haven’t thought about,” revealed George.

“I suppose it’s the old cliché that you can only control what you can control and for me it’s just about playing well. I’ve just got to keep playing well and hopefully a call-up will come at some point.”

George, who also set up fullback Ben Ransom for his 45th minute try, paid tribute to his teammates’ performance.

“It’s always nice when you are on the front foot and it’s always easier when you’re surrounded by good players” said George.

“Having good players around you encourages you to up your performance. Generally [the performance] was brilliant, I thought everyone had a great game and I was very pleased with my own personal performance.”

Explaining what he feels is the reason for his recent rise, George said: “The difference this season compared to other seasons is that I feel I have the full confidence of the coaches to go out and play in those bigger games, and obviously that’s huge for me and they’re the games that I want to be playing in.

“I’m really happy with how the season as gone so far, and for me I’m just looking continue performing and continue to progress.”

McCall was understandably delighted over the nine-try rout. “I thought we were very good today, very professional” beamed McCall.

“The first forty minutes we were going into a gale force wind and to be 29-3 up and after 27 minutes and have the bonus point in the bag is very clinical. Every aspect of our game was good.

“Last week we didn’t put the foot down in the second half, we were poor in the second half last week but we kept on this week and we scored five tries.

“We played some very good rugby at times and we showed some fight when we had to as well.